1

CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework 2016–2025

February 2015

Draft for final consultation

2

Contents

Foreword 3

1 Global challenges drive change 4

2 Harnessing new opportunities 9

3 CGIAR’s vision, mission, goals and beneficiaries 12

4 CGIAR’s evolving niche 14

5 Results framework 16

6 Research strategy 30

7 Holding ourselves accountable 42

8 Resource mobilization 45

3

Foreword

I am proud to present CGIAR’s Strategy and Results Framework.

The challenges facing agriculture and food research for development are evolving rapidly.

So too are the opportunities for such research. Both are integral to the sustainability of

life on our planet and the wellbeing of its people.

As one of the world’s leading publicly funded research partnerships devoted to a food-

secure future, CGIAR is a central player in this evolution. This document outlines our

strategy for contributing to that future, the research results and developmental impact

we expect to achieve, and how we should assess these.

Many people have contributed to this document, which reflects the collective thinking of

the donor community who support CGIAR, those who direct and lead our research within

the CGIAR centers and programs, our partners in the wider research and development

community, and, most important of all, those whom we seek to benefit – the farmers and

other food producers and consumers of the developing world. I am grateful for all their

contributions, which have greatly enriched our deliberations. Our strategy is by far the

stronger for them.

CGIAR is part of a global effort to tackle poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.

Our strategy responds directly to the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the

United Nations. Considerable progress has been made towards those goals, but much is

yet to be done. According to recent Lancet reports, under-nutrition remains the

underlying cause of death for at least 3.1 million children a year, accounting for fully 45%

of all deaths of children under 5 and stunting the growth of another 165 million.

We cannot simply tread familiar paths in response to these statistics. Over the next few

years we will join with our partners to redouble our focus on the needs of women and

young people, extend our efforts to improve dietary quality among the poor and

vulnerable, and intensify our work on climate-smart agriculture – all recent additions to

our research agenda. At the same time, we will continue to build on our long record of

achievement in research to improve the productivity of basic food commodities and to

protect the natural resources used to produce them – our traditional areas of strength.

I believe our Strategy and Results Framework provides a firm foundation for the work we

and our partners must do in the coming decade if we are to create a food-secure world.

I call upon all our stakeholders to support it – and to implement it.

Frank Rijsberman

Chief Executive Officer, CGIAR Consortium

4

1 Global challenges drive change

An evolving agenda

Founded in 1971, CGIAR was a bold response to an urgent need: to ward off impending

famine in large areas of the world’s poorest countries through research to develop new

high-yielding crop varieties. Nearly half a century later, it is still driven by the needs of

those it serves, but its agenda has broadened and become more complex.

The goal of the original two CGIAR centers – key contributors to the Green Revolution in

wheat and rice – was simple: to end world hunger by increasing food production. As the

CGIAR system expanded in the 1970s and 80s, adding centers devoted to a widening

range of commodities, agro-ecologies and challenges, this goal gave way to a more

complex set of objectives that included poverty eradication and protection of the

environment alongside the drive to increase productivity. While remaining central, the

commodity focus was complemented by a growing emphasis on natural resources,

notably soils and water, on policy and institutional issues, and on strengthening national

partners. Then, in the 1990s, came a further expansion of the natural resources mandate,

with the addition of centers devoted to agroforestry, forestry and fisheries.

By 2009, the CGIAR system had become too complex, its diverse centers and programs

prone to duplication and fragmentation. A period of reform began, designed to unify the

system and make it more efficient. Today the centers are grouped in a single CGIAR

Consortium, while a growing proportion of funding is channeled through the CGIAR Fund.

Most important, a set of CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) has been devised to increase

the potential for impact by bringing together the work of different centers on specific

topics1. See Annex 1 for a list of CGIAR centers and CRPs.

Throughout this evolution, which continues today, the CGIAR system has had a marked

impact on the lives and livelihoods of its beneficiaries – the poor producers and

consumers of developing countries. Boxes illustrating this impact will be found at relevant

points in this document (to be written). It is on this record of achievement that we now

intend to build, through a blend of continuity and change – continuity in that we will

remain a uniquely competent provider of public-sector research that crosses not just

1 While most CGIAR research now falls within the CRPs, some work is conducted by individual centers

funded directly by one or more donor agencies. This Strategy and Results Framework addresses the work

of the whole CGIAR system, including both the CRPs and individual center projects.

5

disciplinary but also sectoral boundaries; change, in that we will embrace, as we always

have done, new challenges as they arise.

Pull-out quote: “The CGIAR system is constantly in evolution, responding to ever changing

challenges by engaging new technological opportunities.” – John Snape, Board Chair,

CIMMYT

The ‘traditional’ mandate of CGIAR – to increase the productivity of crops, livestock, trees

and fish and to improve the management of natural resources for the world’s poor and

hungry – remains highly relevant in the 21st century. Despite significant economic growth

in many developing countries over the past decade, over 800 million people remain

under-nourished, including 160 million children2. These numbers are declining over time:

the projection of current rates of income and population growth and investment in

agricultural research suggest that by 2030 the number of under-nourished people could

fall to around 675 million, while that of children is likely to decline to just under 130

million. An improvement that leaves hundreds of millions of people behind is clearly not

acceptable. CGIAR is aligned with the international community’s commitment to end

hunger completely by 2030.

Rapid change ahead

The pace of change in the world’s agricultural and food systems is accelerating, and the

contribution of CGIAR must continue to evolve accordingly. Research attuned to the new

circumstances will yield high returns and measurable impact. What are these new

circumstances?

The backdrop to change is finite natural resources and continuing population growth, a

combination that gives rise to increasingly evident pressures on the land and other

resources used for productive purposes. Land is sought simultaneously for food and feed

crops, livestock production, biofuels, forest products, conservation, urban expansion,

mining, reservoirs, and a host of other uses. Soil degradation continues on land already

farmed, and new lands brought into production are often poorly suited for intensive

agriculture. Water supplies are both overdrawn and polluted, the underlying cause of

rising levels of conflict. Unsustainable harvests of fish and other aquatic products

undermine marine habitats and the future of oceanic systems. Genetic resources are

being irretrievably lost. Agriculture is acknowledged as an important driver pressing

2 That is, deficient in calories and/or protein, leading, in children, to stunted growth. The number

of people deficient in micro-nutrients (suffering from hidden hunger) is much higher, estimated at

2 billion.

6

against these planetary boundaries. In the 21st century it will need to reverse its impact

on natural resources, while still meeting the world’s food needs.

A major new factor affecting natural resources and their use is climate change and the

extreme weather events associated with it. These compound the pressures on agro-

ecologies that are already struggling with the legacy of past environmental

mismanagement. Agriculture is a substantial producer of greenhouse gases and must

reduce its emissions, while at the same time adapting to changes in temperature, rainfall,

and sea level – whether these come suddenly or more gradually.

Many of the environmental challenges confronting agriculture derive from gaps or

failures in the policies and institutions that govern or otherwise affect the use of land,

water, biodiversity and forests. The policy and institutional dimensions of agri-food

systems also take on increased importance as markets globalize and integrate, especially

as agriculture links with the energy and water sectors. The growing threats posed by

climate change call for bold new policy responses.

While growing populations increase the amount of food needed, rising incomes and

urbanization are driving changes in dietary preferences. Urbanization also introduces

complexity into the chain of transactions linking producers and consumers. The focus of

attention has shifted from a narrow interpretation of growth in food supply,

concentrating on a few staples, to a broader vision of the development of diverse agri-

food systems and the efficiency of resource use within them. Losses of crop, livestock,

fish and tree products due to post-harvest pests, spoilage and spillage are estimated to

be substantial3, and reducing these losses offers considerable opportunities for gains in

both the availability and the affordability of food. Consumer concerns about food safety

and the nutritional value of food have come to the fore. Increased consumption of animal

products, fruits and vegetables alongside traditional cereal staples offers scope to

improve nutritional and health outcomes. Demand for meat, fish, eggs and dairy products

is outpacing that for staple grains in both low- and middle-income countries, creating an

urgent need to manage associated risks of food safety and disease, including zoonoses,

at the same time as raising serious environmental concerns. Globalization is also leading

to new patterns in the transmission of field pests and diseases, a trend that will be

exacerbated by climate change. Pesticide and, in some regions, fertilizer overuse is likely

to remain a problem as systems intensify.

Changing patterns of demand are creating new entrepreneurial and job opportunities in

or around agriculture, especially in areas well connected to markets. The jobs agenda

brings a new focus to the sector, augmenting agriculture’s traditional role as a vehicle for

reducing poverty and highlighting its role in income growth, especially among young

3 Between 30% and 50% if not more, according to one recent study (Foley et al., 2011. Solutions for a

Cultivated Planet. Nature 478, pp. 337-342).

7

people and women. Trade, including entry into new markets, is becoming an important

route out of poverty and into food and nutrition security for an increasingly specialized

farm sector. Input markets, which also create jobs, increasingly underpin productivity

gains. In many areas rapid growth in agriculture is accompanied by changes in farm

structure, with large and medium-sized commercial farms appearing where small farms

formerly dominated. Land use, together with access to resources such as water, may also

change.

Not everyone benefits from these changes. The factors affecting technology adoption

must be better understood and the plight of those left behind by development must also

be addressed. This is particularly true of women, whose needs and aspirations have been

much discussed over the past quarter of a century, while progress on the ground remains

patchy at best. A rising generation of better educated young women is demanding more

and better opportunities – and CGIAR and its partners must play their part in creating

these.

Pull-out quote: “Research has to address a more complex set of objectives – increase

yields, but also stabilize them. Center the farmer and the farm and also go beyond,

towards value chains and the food system.” – Gerda Verburg, Chair, Committtee on World

Food Security.

These changes in context mean that, while CGIAR’s work to improve the productivity of

plants and animals is still an essential task, it will not be enough. Increased investment in

the existing research portfolio can, it is true, lead to further advances in productivity,

arising from a combination of increases in genetic gain, improved agronomic practices,

and improved enabling policies. Modeling exercises suggest that an immediate jump in

the productivity of all the resources currently in use – so-called total factor productivity

– from the current growth rate of about 1.4% annually to 2% annually would, if sustained

until 2030, bring the number of under-nourished people down by about 157 million, while

that of under-nourished children would fall by about 7 million.4

These are significant numbers, but they are not high enough to meet the needs of farmers

and consumers in poor countries, nor the high expectations of developing country leaders

and governments, including CGIAR’s national partners. The international science

community, especially the scientists of the 15 CGIAR centers, is unanimous in its ambition

to achieve much faster progress. The objectives of a renewed and expanded research

effort must therefore include not merely higher yields from improved varieties and

practices, but also greater emphasis on new themes such as climate-smart and nutrition-

sensitive agriculture, faster adoption of new technologies, higher profitability from the

small farm and food processing sectors, better opportunities for women and marginalized

4 Perez and Rosegrant, draft, 2014. These reductions would be over and above those outlined on p. 5.

8

groups, greater resilience to economic and environmental shocks, and better stewardship

of natural resources – all of which imply more emphasis on changes in policies and

institutions and more emphasis on building effective partnerships with a broader array

of organizations.

This is the mandate that CGIAR must pursue over the 10-year life of its Strategy and

Results Framework.

9

2 Harnessing new opportunities

Besides new challenges, the context of CGIAR’s work over the coming decade offers new

opportunities: changes in global institutions and governance; new understanding of

agriculture and its contributions to other sectors; and very importantly, new scientific

tools.

The old bimodal concept of development, according to which rich countries provide flows

of assistance and advice to poor beneficiaries, has been largely cast aside. It has been

superseded by a new understanding of the need for collective action at global level to

solve complex, interconnected problems that affect the whole community of nations. As

a new generation of leaders emerges to set the agenda at national level, new

international mechanisms involving, for example, United Nations agencies, the G20, the

World Economic Forum, the revamped Committee on World Food Security, and an

expanded range of development partners are creating new ways of coordinating and

delivering support, often involving the private sector. The UN and its partners plan to

launch a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to build on the progress made

towards the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when these come to an end

in 2015 (see box). CGIAR is a participant in setting a number of these goals and defining

associated targets and indicators, which we will work closely with our partners to achieve.

Towards sustainable development

The UN’s Open Working Group proposal for Sustainable Development Goals outlines 17 goals, of which five are directly addressed by CGIAR’s work:

• Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms, everywhere • Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture • Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls • Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts • Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

In addition, CGIAR will contribute to aspects of seven other goals: Goal 3, on healthy lives; Goal 6, on the sustainable management of water; Goal 8, on sustainable economic growth; Goal 10, on reducing inequality; Goal 12, on sustainable production; Goal 16, on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies; and Goal 17, on global partnership.

Source: UN Open Working Group Proposal for Sustainable Development Goals: https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?

10

Pull-out quote: “We simply will not achieve the SDGs without more and better investment

in agricultural research.” – Mark Cackler, Agriculture Global Practice Manager, World

Bank

Agriculture has returned to the center of global attention after a quarter century of public

neglect and disinvestment. Concurrently, but largely independently, attention to the

double burdens of under-nutrition and obesity has increased. The rapid growth of

biofuels has linked agricultural and energy markets, creating opportunities for producers

as well as higher food costs for consumers5. The past focus of environmentalists on

conservation alone has broadened to encompass the management of landscapes for

multiple purposes, with tradeoffs and synergies between conservation and productive

uses. As a consequence, agriculture is increasingly positioned within the environmental

agenda rather than in opposition to it, as was previously often the case. Both sectors now

recognize the scope for solutions implied by a ‘landscape’ approach to meeting the dual

goals of food security and environmental sustainability.

Advances in science and technology are also creating new opportunities for the work of

CGIAR and its partners. Breakthroughs in nutrition, genetics, informatics, modeling,

mobile telephony, satellite imaging, remote sensing, meteorology, nanotechnology,

precision farming and conservation agriculture are driving global investments in

agriculture, often by the private sector (see box).

Agriculture is now seen to be at the core of the new bio-economy, a user of and

contributor to big data for innovation, part of the solution to environmental problems,

an engine of economic growth, and the source of healthy food.

As an organization with a unique mandate for research across the world’s low- and

middle-income countries, CGIAR must both harness and contribute to these advances in

science and technology. The research it conducts with its partners has already proved its

value in increasing commodity yields, improving the management of natural resources

and putting in place the more effective policies and institutions that can ensure

technology adoption and impact. Now CGIAR must go still further.

Pull-out quote: “Agricultural research investments reduce the number of poor people in

SSA by 2.3 million annually. International agricultural research conducted by CGIAR

contributes to about 56% (or 1.3 million) of the total poverty reduction impact of

agricultural research in the region.” – Arega Alene and Ousmane Coulibaly, IITA6

5 Given the recent fall in oil prices, this trend may now go into reverse in the short to medium term.

6 Alene, A. and Coulibaly, O. 2009. The impact of agricultural research on productivity and poverty in sub-

Saharan Africa. Food Policy 34, pp. 198-209.

11

Advances in agri-food science By 2020 the genomes of all the major commodities under research by CGIAR will have been

sequenced, opening up the potential to improve yields, climate resilience and nutritional

quality while reducing environmental impact. Novel crops are being explored that can

combine the production of new kinds of food with that of the raw materials for energy

generation. Breakthroughs in satellite imagery and remote sensing, soil and water

monitoring and precision farming are also reducing the energy and environmental footprint

of agriculture.

Many of the most exciting advances are occurring at the interface between several

disciplines. Applications of synthetic biology, for example, promise better designed

microbial systems with superior plant nutrition and disease resistance, or changes in the

rumen ecosystem that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Gene synthesis and multi-gene

vector cloning are likely to lead to breakthroughs in photosynthesis and nutrient

management, such as C4 rice and nitrogen-fixing cereals. Genome editing will also have

major implications for the improvement of both crops and livestock, while nanotechnology

will open up new approaches to disease management, health diagnostics, the delivery of

nutrients and biocides, and food storage and safety.

Agricultural informatics is a rapidly developing field. The collation and application of

insights from the study of large integrated data sets is starting to deliver benefits across

genetics, economics, agronomy, hydrology and soil science. These insights and their

associated predictive power have the potential to increase the resilience of food systems

and to reduce the risks associated with the management of water and nutrients. Data-

intensive methods and new ways of gathering data will increase our capacity to monitor

sustainability at different levels.

12

3 CGIAR’s vision, mission, goals and

beneficiaries

Our vision

A world free of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation

Our mission

To advance agri-food science and innovation to enable poor people, especially poor

women, to enjoy increased agricultural productivity, share in economic growth, feed

themselves and their families better and conserve natural resources in the face of climate

change and other threats

Our goals

Reduce poverty

Improve food and nutrition security for health

Improve natural resource systems and ecosystem services

Our beneficiaries

CGIAR works to benefit the world’s poor and hungry.

Among producer groups, we target our research towards the needs of smallholder

farmers, agropastoralists, pastoralists, forest users and fisher folk. Increasingly, food

processors, traders and others who add value along the chain from producer to consumer

will also stand to benefit from our work. We particularly target women and young people

in search of opportunities to improve their livelihoods. We also seek to benefit producers

who are marginalized or excluded from mainstream development.

Among consumer groups, our work mainly benefits poor urban consumers, by lowering

food prices. However, smallholder farming families and other users of natural resources

also benefit insofar as they are food consumers as well as producers. In our work to

improve nutrition, we particularly target women and children in the poorest households.

We also target groups or individuals who are vulnerable to deprivation.

13

Most of our beneficiaries live in the world’s two regions where poverty and hunger are

most prevalent: sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. We also address needs in other parts

of Asia, in North Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our research may bring indirect benefits to other groups besides those directly targeted.

For example, research on climate and agriculture, if it reduces greenhouse gas emissions,

could contribute to a reduction in severe weather events across the globe. Similarly, all

on the planet stand to benefit if our work reduces the potential for conflict over scarce

natural resources and thereby increases the spread of peace, prosperity and trade.

14

4 CGIAR’s evolving niche

The changes in the context of CGIAR’s work sketched above have attracted new resources

and partners into the business of agricultural research for development, prompting

CGIAR to re-examine its niche. Some of the roles outlined below are traditional and some

are relatively new; all are evolving, in line with the needs of our partners and beneficiaries

and taking into account the comparative advantages of CGIAR and others in the field.

CGIAR will continue to play a special role in:

• Providing research leadership: CGIAR has a long track-record in leading and conducting

interdisciplinary research that combines biophysical and social sciences to combat

hunger, poverty and environmental degradation in developing countries. Its

accomplishments in such areas as plant breeding and genetics, livestock production,

systems research, natural resource management research and food policy are well

regarded internationally. Recently, the system has embarked on research that crosses

sectoral boundaries, for example on agriculture and climate change. CGIAR’s evolving

expertise in these areas is a valuable resource that remains highly relevant to the

challenges facing today’s rapidly changing agri-food systems.

Pull-out quote: “Our comparative advantage is to conduct and lead strategic scientific

research directed towards the compelling problems of poverty, hunger, and a healthy

environment. Scientific innovation is essential to solving the problems that confront the

developing world. That is what we do.” – Bob Ziegler, Director General, IRRI

• Providing international public goods: this role has always been central to the very

concept of CGIAR and remains highly relevant. Private-sector research activity in low-

income countries is growing but still modest. Private firms, even when stronger and more

numerous, will not by themselves take on innovations that cannot be appropriated for

profit or that benefit poor people lacking in purchasing power. This is true across sectors

– not just in agriculture but also in health and the environment.

• Safeguarding and utilizing genetic resources: the CGIAR community holds in trust,

characterizes, uses and shares unique genetic resources for a subset of agriculturally

significant species of central importance to advancing and sustaining productivity for the

world’s smallholders in the 21st century. It also supports policy development on the use

and exchange of genetic resources. This too is a traditional role, but it is evolving: in future

we will place more emphasis on the collection and characterization of species and breeds

important for such fields as human nutrition and climate-smart agriculture, in addition to

15

resistance to pests and diseases. The role of in situ conservation (in farmers’ fields),

alongside the collections held in genebanks, will continue to grow.

• Strengthening research capacity: CGIAR has a strong record in developing research

capacity at national level. This role remains relevant, but training needs are changing as

the research agenda evolves and as other suppliers enter the field. Specialized training

and opportunities for hands-on research as part of a multidisciplinary team remain

unique CGIAR advantages. CGIAR’s future role will be to empower national partners to

lead research efforts.

• Partnering for impact: CGIAR convenes partners, brokers research and mobilizes

expertise to understand needs and to generate or accelerate innovation, often through

long-term collaborative relationships. It provides knowledge platforms and infrastructure

to link its own centers and programs with national agricultural research and extension

systems, advanced research Institutes, policy bodies, non-government organizations

(NGOs) and private-sector companies. These relationships often make a strong

contribution to capacity development. In future they will be increasingly important for

scaling up to achieve widespread impact. This is a traditional role, but the nature of

CGIAR’s partnerships is changing (see p. 38).

• Informing global debate: CGIAR’s research informs global and regional dialogues on key

development issues and challenges. It also assists low- and middle-income countries in

developing their negotiating positions in processes convened by the UN and other

organizations. This is a relatively new role that will become increasingly important over

the next decade.

• Managing open data and sharing knowledge: CGIAR assists national and other partners

in accessing and using rapidly growing quantities of relevant data. Opportunities now

exist to bring together information from different fields (e.g. agriculture, finance,

marketing, diet and health, environment) to provide faster and deeper insights into

development challenges. This information can be used to enrich the digital decision-

making tools currently used in agriculture. Again, this is a new role, set to develop rapidly

in the coming years.

16

5 Results framework

Challenges and targets

The results framework7 displayed in Figure 1 presents a vision, mission and three strategic

goals or system-level outcomes (SLOs) for the work of CGIAR and its partners over the 10-

year period to 2025. This work will contribute to the reduction of poverty (and creation

of wealth), to improved food and nutrition security (leading to better health), and to

better management of natural resources (leading to improved ecosystem services).

The SLOs are the higher-level goals for the CGIAR system aligned with international

development imperatives (specifically, the SDGs: see Annex 2). They are not deliverable

by CGIAR alone, nor even by research alone. Progress towards them is driven by national

governments and by international development organizations and agreements, including

those on the SDGs.

It is sobering to consider the scale of the challenges at this level. Global numbers are

unreliable, but Table 1 gives approximate figures for target human populations for some

suggested indicators of the SLOs, both globally and for the 20 countries with the highest

levels of poverty.

The targets CGIAR sets in response to this challenge will demonstrate the system’s

commitment to the goals and targets established by the international community. As

already indicated, CGIAR is actively involved in defining the SDG targets relating to ending

poverty and hunger and creating a sustainable environment, a process that should reach

fruition with the formal approval of the goals and targets at the UN’s General Assembly

in 2015. In addition, CGIAR has already signed the G8’s Nutrition for Growth Compact,

which has committed, inter alia, to reaching 500 million pregnant women and children

with effective nutrition interventions by 20308. We are also signatories to the 2014 Global

Alliance for Climate-smart Agriculture, which has undertaken to reach 500 million people

with climate-smart interventions by 2030.

7 The Results Framework was originally developed by the Fund Council during a meeting in Washington, D.C.

in August 2014. It has been subject to several rounds of revision, most recently at the Bern SRF stakeholders

meeting held in January 2015.

8 On 8 June 2013, at the Hunger Summit in London, a total of 24 governments and 28 businesses joined

CGIAR and other science organizations in signing a Global Nutrition for Growth Compact. By 2030 the

compact will seek to ensure at least 500 million pregnant women and children benefit from effective

nutrition interventions, prevent at least 20 million children under the age of five from having stunted growth,

and save at least 1.7 million lives by reducing stunting, increasing breast-feeding, and treating severe acute

under-nutrition.

17

Figure 1. The hierarchy of vision, mission and outcomes that drives the CGIAR research agenda

Cross-cuttin

g

issues: Ge nder and y outh, Climate change, Policies and institu t ions , Capac i ty de velopment

Reduced povertyImproved food and

nutrition

secur i ty f or health Improved natural resource systems

and ecosystem services

Improved human and animal health

through better agricultural

practice

s

Improved water quality

Reduced livestock and fis

h di seas e

risks associated with intensification and climate change

Improved input effic

iency and safety

SLO

sID

Os

Sub

-ID

Os

Natural capital enhanced

and protected, especially from climate change

Land, water and forest degradatio

n

minimized and

reversed

Enhanced conservation

of habitats and resources

Increased genetic di ver si ty of agricultural and associated

landscapes

Increased productiv

i

ty

Reduced pre- and post-harvest losses,

including those caused by climate

change

Improved agronomic and

animal husbandry practices

Enhanced genetic gain

Increased conservation and

use of genetic resources

Increased access to productiv

e as se ts,

including natural resources

Increased resilience of the poor to climate

change and other shocks

Increased household coping

capacity

Reduced productio

n

ri sk

Enhanced smallholder

market access

Improved access to fin

anci al and

other services

Reduced barriers to access

Increased incomes and employment

Diversifie

d

enterprise

opportunitie

s

Increased livelihood

opportunitie

s

Increased value capture by producers

More effici en t use of inputs

Improved diets for poor and

vulnerable people

Increased availability of

diverse nutrient-rich foods

Optim

i

z ed consumption of diverse nutrient-

rich foods

Increased access to diverse nutrient-

rich foods

More sustainably managed agro-

ecosystems

Increased resilience of agro-ecosystems and communitie

s

More effici en t use of agricultural resources by smallholders

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from

agro-ecosystems

Enhanced adaptive capacity to climate

risks

Improved food

safety

Reduced biological and chemical

hazards in food and water

Enhanced regulatory

environment for food safety

Our vision: A world free of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation

Our mission:To advance agri-food science and innovation t o enable poor people, especially poor women, to enjoy increased agricultural productivi ty , share in economic growth, feed themselves and their families better and conserve natural resources in the face of climate change and other threats

Enhanced benefits from ecosystem

goods and services

More productiv

e

and equitable

management of natural resources

Agricultural systems diversifie

d

and intensifie

d in

ways that protect soils and water

Enrichment of plant and animal biodiversity for

multipl

e goods and services

Increased above- and below-ground

biomass

18

Table 1. Dimensions of the challenge by SLO

Global Total for the 20

countries with

highest poverty

SLO1 Poor people (millions) 1,0339 883

SL02 Under-nourished people (millions) 676 543

Stunted children under 5 (millions) 178 134

Women of reproductive age with anaemia (%) 28 35

SL03 Degraded land area (ha x 000) 3,505,810 1,024,965

Affected people (millions) 1,538 1049

Total loss of NPP10 to degradation (million tonnes

C/time)

955 364

Other11 – Resource specific e.g. water, soil, forests,

fisheries

- -

This table remains to be revised/finalized

Impact pathways and theories of change

The pathways that lead to impact on the SLOs overlap, intertwine and diverge from each

other (ISPC, 201312). For instance, the increased productivity of agriculture is central to

food and nutrition security, it can be a contributory factor in poverty reduction, and it

both affects and is affected by the management of natural resources and the provision of

ecosystem services. Thus CGIAR has introduced the concept of Intermediate Development

Outcomes (IDOs), which serve to channel research towards the achievement of SLOs.

Below this level are the sub-IDOs – the research and development outcomes to which

9 Poverty is USD1.25 per capita per day, 2005 PPP in millions. [NB global figure derived by World Bank from %

of 2011 figure – other figures based on 2013 census by country.]

10 NPP is net primary productivity.

11 This SLO would require indicators for other critical resource dimensions.

12 ISPC (2013). CGIAR System-Level Outcomes (SLOs), their impact pathways and inter-linkages, found at:

http://www.sciencecouncil.cgiar.org/publications

19

CGIAR will directly contribute, which will come through individual programs and

partnerships. These will be adopted or adjusted by each CRP, according to its own

assessment of priorities and of what can be delivered.

Implicit in the figure are theories of change about how outcomes are achieved, how they

interact with each other and what characteristics define the enabling environment

required to secure them. These theories are themselves topics of research and need

further enrichment and refinement, including the incorporation of feedback loops and

adaptation to different geographical and problem contexts. The results framework as a

representation of process should therefore be considered a living document, since

improved understanding of the relationships will emerge over time, together with better

ways of displaying them.

For example, the increased productivity of agriculture contributes to poverty reduction

and wealth creation by increasing the incomes of farmers, traders and others and by

reducing food prices or at least slowing their increase, thereby freeing income for other

purchases, which in turn spurs further economic growth and creates new jobs. Households

enjoying increased incomes and employment opportunities are more resilient and likely to

cope with price or weather shocks without falling into poverty. Enhanced genetic gain

through plant and animal breeding, productivity increases from improved agronomic and

husbandry practices (especially if these practices are climate-smart and contribute to

ecosystem services), and policies and institutions that improve the efficiency of value

chains and markets are three other areas of intervention that all contribute, or could

contribute, to poverty reduction, both directly through income growth and indirectly by

cushioning price rises and volatility. Although highly simplified, this impact pathway

captures key elements of the process of poverty reduction. It does not, however, display

the feedback loops that arise when better nutrition and health lead to the development of

human capital in the next generation, accelerating poverty reduction through, for

example, better performance at school and better subsequent career prospects. Nor does

it adequately capture the direct contribution of environmental services (e.g. water quality,

soil nutrients, carbon sequestration) to income growth and poverty reduction, nor the

essential role of empowerment of women and young people, which can also transform

livelihoods and career prospects down the generations.

Similarly, the figure captures several key ways in which agricultural science contributes to

improved food and nutrition security (and hence to improved health). While increased

productivity contributes to food quantity and hence security, better balanced and more

diverse diets for poor and vulnerable people are the route to qualitative improvements,

especially the alleviation of hidden hunger. The addition of new sources of protein and

trace elements to diets can be highly effective, especially when these take the form of

livestock products and beta-carotene-rich foods; the evidence base for the contribution of

other food groups needs improving. Not just availability but also access matters here –

20

access being defined in part by affordability and in part by status and priorities within the

household. Another route to this goal is improved food safety, which can be achieved

through reduced biological and chemical hazards in food and water and an enhanced

regulatory environment for food safety. The latter can sometimes be defined as the

removal of legislation that constrains market access for smallholders, rather than the

introduction of tighter controls. The figure is inevitably simplified and does not capture the

finer detail of cause and effect along individual pathways, nor the major interactions

among pathways, while some important factors are missing altogether. Genetic

improvement through biofortification, for example, can increase the nutritional content of

foods. Improvements in value chains, especially in hygiene and processing practices, can

reduce spoilage and loss and diminish the risks of illness. And the improvement of

ecosystem services underpins the stability and quality of food and water supplies.

As shown in the third block of Figure 1, improved natural resource systems and ecosystem

services are the key to sustaining agricultural production, especially in the face of climate

change13. What is not shown is that these systems and services also contribute to poverty

reduction through enhanced productivity and resilience, and provide the basis for

maintaining or increasing dietary diversity. The interactions here are particularly complex

and often highly context-dependent. To give just one example, in some cases enhanced

market access can induce smallholders to take better care of their farms, with benefits to

such characteristics as soil and water quality, above- and below-ground biomass, and

biodiversity. In other situations, it can lead farmers to take short cuts in the scramble to

raise yields and reach markets at competitive prices, thereby damaging the natural

resource base.

The relationships shown in Figure 1 thus define the broad outlines of a results framework.

A two-dimensional diagram does not do justice to the complexity of impact pathways, but

it can highlight the areas where the global body of evidence underpinning links is strong or

where causality and trade-offs need to be further explored.

Potential contributions of CGIAR research

This section describes how CGIAR could contribute research outputs (evidence,

knowledge, policy advice, best practice, technologies) which, when taken up by farmers or

development partners, could contribute to each SLO. CGIAR recognizes that the context in

13 Ecosystem services include, besides the provision of clean water and naturally fertile soils, biodiversity

conservation, carbon sequestration and pollination. Of these services, pollination is, arguably, at once the

most at risk and the least researched, despite being vital for agricultural productivity.

21

which research outputs are used can exert a major influence on whether the outcome is

indeed the intended one and whether there are unintended consequences.

SLO1 – Reduced poverty

Poverty reduction is a complex objective and CGIAR activities have the potential to

contribute to this SLO through a number of different pathways. The key pathways will

differ across contexts, reflecting the diversity of livelihood strategies pursued by the poor.

They will also vary depending on the overall shape and capacity of the economies in

question. In places where the poor are predominately smallholder farmers, increased

productivity may be an important pathway to poverty reduction, to the extent that it leads

to increased incomes and employment opportunities. This is not a guaranteed outcome,

however: it is more likely to occur in open economies where prices are (partly) determined

on world markets. In more isolated areas or those with high transport costs, increased

agricultural productivity can cause steep declines in food prices, benefiting poor

consumers but possibly generating little benefit for farmers – unless they can diversify into

new commodities or enterprises. Diversified enterprise opportunities can include moving

into higher value products such as livestock, fish, vegetables, fruit or other tree crops and

are important ways of stabilizing incomes as well as increasing them. These are feasible

ways forward for many smallholders when demand is growing fast, as it is in the case of

livestock products, and when improved technologies and adequate information and

support services are also at hand. Policies that stimulate competition and lead to enhanced

market access for smallholders can lower the prices farmers pay for inputs and raise the

margin they obtain on the goods they sell. Research and policy change is needed to bring

about reduced barriers for smallholder access to markets, whether these barriers are legal,

social or physical – poor infrastructure and transport links. Enabling farmers to profit from

innovation will often require improved access to financial and other services – for example,

veterinary services when livestock are introduced. Another route to improved margins is

the development and dissemination of practices that lead to the more efficient use of

inputs, especially fertilizers and pesticides. Lastly, when rural people can process their

produce on or near the farm, they can raise their incomes through increased value capture.

The heterogeneity of the poor is important in determining the kinds of intervention that

will reduce poverty. In some contexts, the poor are overwhelmingly landless rural laborers;

in others, they tend to be concentrated in urban areas. In some areas, poverty may be

concentrated among women – or perhaps even more intensively concentrated among

specific classes of women (e.g. widows or adolescent girls). Households may straddle

multiple roles – for instance, smallholder farm households may also have individual family

members who supply labor to off-farm enterprises. Dispersed family members often send

remittances from urban employment back to their families in rural areas. These can be

thought of as a significant investment in agriculture and the small farm sector.

22

Different economies also have different resources and institutions, making the role of

agriculture in poverty reduction still more complex. Economies may be open or closed to

trade, determining farmers’ ability to link with export markets; fertile or barren in terms

of their ability to incubate innovation; rich or poor in mineral wealth, with implications for

rural land use and employment opportunities. Some states may have effective social safety

nets in place, while others have little capacity to provide income support to the poor. Each

set of circumstances will point to a different role for agricultural research in poverty

reduction.

As a result, it is critical for CGIAR research to reflect the complexity of poverty dynamics.

No single pathway to poverty reduction will hold across all settings. Indeed, technological

innovation does not always reduce poverty; under some circumstances, it even has the

potential to exacerbate inequality, creating, for example, widespread structural change in

farming systems and increased urban migration. Recognizing this complex reality is a

starting point for all research by CGIAR and its partners, which must take into account

prospective impacts on rural employment and wages as well as on productivity.

But these are not the only factors that will affect the decision whether or not to intervene.

Targeting research towards poverty reduction requires us to think more broadly about the

consequences of interventions. Apart from interventions that increase yields, research has

the potential to bring about poverty reduction in other ways. For instance, innovations

that reduce the time demands of farming, food processing or cooking can free up labor,

including that of women and children, for new enterprises that raise incomes and increase

social mobility. The appropriate management of farmland and natural resources, together

with better storage and processing practices, can lead to Reduced pre-and post-production

losses. And when labor is the input in question, more efficient use of inputs becomes, for

women especially, a powerful route to greater equity as well as higher incomes. The

renewed focus on farm and landscape multi-functionality and the provision of ecosystem

services may put additional pressures on farmers, but can also provide new opportunities

for reducing poverty through payments for ecosystem services, including carbon

sequestration, biodiversity conservation or water quality improvement.

If poverty is defined as the possession of few material assets, research also needs to

address the Increased resilience of the poor, where resilience is defined as the ability to

withstand economic or environmental shocks, such as extreme fluctuations in the price of

bread or fuel, or the devastation of crops caused by a violent storm. Innovations that

reduce the size or frequency of such shocks (or that reduce the need for costly safety nets)

can also contribute to poverty reduction. Reduced production risk, for example, can be

achieved through the introduction of crop varieties that have yield stability across good or

bad years because they can tolerate or resist stresses such as drought or pests and

diseases. Index insurance is another potentially valuable tool in this respect, at least while

the risks of catastrophic crop or livestock losses remain low to moderate. It is important to

23

note, however, that agricultural innovations are only one of the mechanisms that poor

people use to manage or mitigate shocks. Most efforts through agricultural research will

have to go hand in hand with capacity development and other means of empowerment,

including improved literacy. The development and dissemination of integrated technical,

institutional and policy options should, in time, lead to increased household coping

capacity. But it will be vital to assess the full range of outcomes from these options

rigorously – and to learn from experience.

SLO 2 – Improved food and nutrition security

No less complex to achieve than poverty reduction, food security encompasses the

availability, access, utilization and stability of a healthy food supply (see World Food

Summit, 1996). Availability includes food provided locally or through imports. Access is

defined at the level of individuals and includes affordability as well as priority within the

household when supplies are scarce. Utilization refers to an individual’s ability to

metabolize food through being in good health and ingesting food under sanitary

conditions. Stability refers to the persistence of food supply in the face of shocks or across

seasons and years.

Much that CGIAR does in the field of crop and commodity improvement (breeding and

management, integrative systems approaches) seeks to enhance the availability of food,

particularly of staple foods and livestock products. Increased productivity of agriculture is

therefore also at the heart of this SLO, with yield increases improving the food security of

farm families both directly, through home consumption, and indirectly, through the sale

of surpluses for cash, which can then be used to buy food items not produced on the farm.

Improved affordability of food comes through more efficient agri-food systems, from

better farm production practices and technology, via better storage, processing and

transportation, to better functioning markets. The stability of supply can result, for

example, from shortening the season of a crop to avoid stressful climatic conditions and/or

growing it in diverse rotations with other crops and animals, including fish.

While concern over food supply typically focuses on calories, nutritional security is not

measured by a single dietary component but instead reflects Improved diets from a range

of food groups which need to be carefully targeted to poor and vulnerable people.

Increased availability of diverse nutrient-rich foods can be achieved by introducing fruits,

vegetables, livestock and fish into the farming system, a good way forward provided the

necessary inputs and services are available. A complementary strategy, also researched by

CGIAR, is to develop and disseminate biofortified crops, though it remains to be seen

whether such foods will be acceptable to consumers. In addition, care needs to be taken

to ensure that, when enriching the provision of a specific vitamin or mineral by introducing

a new crop, this does not come at the expense of other important nutrients in foods that

24

are then dropped out of the diet. Besides availability, increased access to nutrient-rich

foods is also essential. When food is sourced outside the farm, access depends on

affordability, but a further factor here is whether potentially marginalized people in the

community or household – mothers and infants, the old, the ill, the widowed – receive

their fair share. This will be an important topic to pursue through research on gender and

inclusion. Lastly, optimized consumption of these foods will ensure that the right amounts

of missing nutrients are introduced into the diet, especially in the case of livestock

products. These can be important for people on low-calorie and nutrient-poor diets, but

the overconsumption associated with health risks in the developed world needs to be

avoided. Obesity is a growing health problem in only a handful of developing countries at

present, but could rapidly become more prevalent with rising incomes in the years to

come.

Many of the nutrient-rich foods, such as vegetables and animal-source foods, are

perishable. Food safety is thus a critical nutrition and health concern as well as a barrier to

markets for poor producers, processors and traders. CGIAR can contribute to Improved

food safety through the better management of production and processing in agri-food

systems. This covers a wide range of possible interventions, from the development and

use of aflatoxin-resistant crop varieties, through the management of slurry to avoid

pollution from livestock enterprises, to the prevention of spoilage and contamination

during storage and processing – all of which can lead to Reduced biological and chemical

hazards in food and water. Biological hazards, which are the more serious safety concern,

include microbial pathogens in perishable foods and mycotoxins in harvested and stored

materials, in addition to zoonoses such as avian influenza and brucellosis. Chemical

hazards are, despite popular perception, less of a risk for consumers, but producers often

do need better protection, especially in intensive production systems – see below. Lastly,

an enhanced regulatory environment for food safety is often needed, and should be

targeted to control the most serious sources of risk. These often lie on the input supply

side rather than in the small-scale farming community.

Food safety is an important determinant of human health, but CGIAR will make additional

contributions to Improved human and animal health through better agricultural

practices. Examples are agricultural and aquaculture practices that lead to Improved water

quality and Improved input efficiency and safety. Interventions such as integrated pest

management can help to reduce pesticide overuse, provided they are accompanied by

public information campaigns and changes in the legal framework and/or the code of

conduct and marketing practices of private-sector suppliers. A combination of improved

management and more effective disease surveillance can contribute to the control of

zoonotic and vector-borne diseases (e.g. those associated with irrigation). Control can be

augmented by longer-term strategies for the development and use of resistant or tolerant

varieties and breeds. Interventions of this kind will also lead to Reduced livestock and fish

disease risks associated with intensification and climate change.

25

The focus and outcomes of research towards food and nutrition security are affected by

local, national and international markets, which in turn depend on supply and demand.

These differ by commodity (and other elements of the food, water and energy nexus). The

pursuit of nutritional security through dietary diversity requires the design of nutrition-

sensitive strategies for food groups or combinations of food groups which interact with

the wider agri-food system. Cross-sectoral approaches to these issues will be needed,

targeting children under 5 and women of child-bearing age in particular but also other

groups according to need. CGIAR is well placed to introduce and guide best practice in

agriculture. It will seek to harness increased expertise in nutrition through partnerships

and coalitions with a wide range of partners, including leading NGOs and private-sector

companies as well as government agencies. Alignment with key national, regional and

international processes will be critical.

SLO 3 – Improved natural resource systems and ecosystem services

A primary aim of research towards SLO3 is to ensure that Natural capital is enhanced and

protected, especially from the ravages of climate change. The great gains made in food

production over the past 50 years have often come at a high environmental cost: degraded

lands/soils, polluted water, depleted marine fisheries and forest cover, and greatly

reduced biodiversity. Now climate change threatens to accelerate this damage, for

example by forcing the production of key crops into new, previously uncultivated forest

and highland areas.

This is an immense challenge that calls for new approaches, including payment for

ecosystem services, the certification and effective marketing of specialized products that

meet environmental standards, increased consumer awareness, and the deployment of

new financial instruments such as the REDD+ concept developed by the UN14. These

approaches, not all of which lie within CGIAR’s remit, can ensure that Land, water and

forest degradation is minimized and reversed, particularly if efforts are on a large enough

scale and have strong government and international backing. In some areas, particularly

those at high risk, Enhanced conservation of habitats and resources will be needed. This

can be achieved by switching from traditional livelihood strategies to alternatives that

provide a motive to conserve biodiversity, particularly woodland or forest. Examples

include the switch from ruminant livestock to honey bees or gum arabic in the rangelands

14 REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The instrument was

launched at the Copenhagen UN climate conference of 2009. The + denotes the extension of the concept to

cover such issues as conservation, sustainable management and the enhancement of carbon stocks.

26

of sub-Saharan Africa.15 Occasionally, domestication will be the best, perhaps even the

only, way to conserve species that are at risk because of excessive harvesting in the wild.

The involvement of local people in decision making, including control over local resources,

and the financial viability and employment opportunities provided by new enterprises will

be critical to success. Increased genetic diversity of agricultural and associated landscapes

can be achieved by introducing new crops, including tree crops. Work in this area can be

linked with dietary diversification efforts.

Environmental damage undermines the ecosystem services that support both agriculture

and other livelihood uses of the resource base, both now and in the future. To reverse this

damaging trend we need to intensify agriculture sustainably. This requires cleaner

technologies, more efficient use of inputs such as water and fertilizer, and the formulation

and implementation of practices and policies that will protect and nurture the resource

base, integrating this objective with the pursuit of long-term productivity gains. The multi-

functionality of agriculture will be an important concept here, involving the Enrichment of

plant and animal biodiversity for multiple good and services, including pollination. The

result will be Enhanced benefits from ecosystem goods and services and a more

productive agricultural sector in the long run.

Again, ensuring that local people control and manage local resources, and have the means

to do so efficiently, will be critical for success, leading to More productive and equitable

management of natural resources. Another essential ingredient here will be to ensure that

Agricultural systems are diversified in ways that protect soils and water – two vital inputs

that have often been compromised by past approaches to intensification, which have led

to erosion or to deteriorating soil structure and to the inefficient use of scarce water

supplies, often accompanied by pollution. As well as helping to control soil erosion and

improve soil organic matter content, Increased above- and below-ground biomass will be

essential for storing carbon and hence for mitigating climate change.

Enhanced benefits from ecosystem goods and services can be achieved at scale in the

world’s major river basins, where the orchestrated interventions of CRPs on natural

resource management (especially forests and water/irrigation management), on

commodities and on systems research can do much to improve the productivity and

underpin the sustainability of all forms of land use. This will bring substantial benefits to

the very large percentage of the world’s poor who live in these basins. The stored carbon,

water balances and biodiversity of these basins are also global public goods. Appropriate

indicators for this IDO will therefore require coordinated trans-boundary rather than

national-level data collection.

15 Alternatives such as tourism, which can provide strong incentives to conserve wildlife, for example, lie

outside CGIAR’s mandate.

27

A third key outcome of research towards this SLO is More sustainably managed agro-

ecosystems. Land degradation is defined as a reduction or loss of the biological or

economic productivity and complexity of rainfed or irrigated cropland, rangeland, pasture,

forest and woodland resulting from land use or offtake, combined with natural processes

such as soil erosion, deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological properties of

soil, and long-term loss of natural vegetation, especially tree cover. Agro-ecosystems may

be already degraded now, in which case they need restoring, or vulnerable to degradation

in the future unless they are better protected.

An important ingredient contributing to this outcome is the Increased resilience of agro-

ecosystems and communities, which will be essential for absorbing price or climate shocks.

This will depend on responsive and flexible support services and projects that can help

communities adapt to change and get back on their feet quickly when disasters strike.

Again, Enhanced adaptive capacity to climate risks implies access to new information and

inputs when traditional crops fail or threaten to fail – for example, enabling farmers to

switch from conventional to drought-tolerant maize when a drying and warming trend sets

in. However, local knowledge and traditional practices may also be important, such as

mulching, or re-planting lost tree cover. Better support services in areas such as seasonal

forecasting will also be essential. Index insurance may have a part to play, if it proves a

sufficiently robust tool when severe weather events become more frequent. More efficient

use of agricultural resources by smallholders and other user groups involves a shift away

from such practices as slash-and-burn agriculture, a contributor (though far from the

largest one) to deforestation, and the adoption of zero tillage and other resource-

conserving systems and practices in addition to greater efficiency in the use of fertilizers

and other chemical inputs. Coupled with new approaches to livestock production, these

changes will lead to Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agro-ecosystems.

Cross-cutting issues

Although much of the research conducted by CGIAR and its partners is directed towards

more than one SLO, four issues were identified that, more than any others, cut across the

whole research agenda. These issues are:

• Climate change. All research and development activities need to build in resilience to

climate shocks and a focus on adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

• Gender and youth. The main challenge here is to ensure that all research conducted by

CGIAR and its partners is gender-sensitive and promotes gender equity – that is, it is

adapted to both the needs and the aspirations of poor women. The needs of young people

must also be taken into account. And the focus can be extended to cover marginalized or

potentially marginalized groups as needed.

28

• Policies and institutions. This concerns the need to reform the policies and institutions

that affect agri-food systems so that these become more conducive to pro-poor

development and to the protection of natural resources. Again, this spans all CGIAR and

partner research activities.

• Capacity development. There is a great need to strengthen capacity, both in the research

and development organizations that are CGIAR’s partners and also at grass roots level.

Capacity development needs arise in all the fields of research covered by CGIAR and its

partners, but are particularly pressing in new areas, such as climate change.

These issues, together with the IDOs and sub-IDOs that relate to them, are shown in Figure

2.

29

Figure 2. Cross-cutting issues and outcomes

Our vision: A world free of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation

Our mission:To advance agri-food science and innovation t o enable poor people, especially poor women, to enjoy increased agricultural productivi ty , share in economic growth, feed themselves and their families better and conserve natural resources in the face of climate change and other threats

Gender and youth

Equity and inclusion achieved

Gender-equitable control of productive assets and resources

Technologies that save time and e nergy developed and disseminated

Improved capacity of women and young people to partic

ipa te in decision-making

Policies and institu t ions

Enabling environment improved

Increased capacity of benefici ar ies t o adopt research outputs

Increased capacity of partner organization s , as evidenced by rates of

investment in agricultural research

Conducive agricultural policy environment, as evidenced by monitoring of core indicators

Conducive environment for managing shocks and vulnerability, as evidenced in

rapid response mechanisms

Capacity development

Natio

n

al par tner s and benefici ar ies enabled

Enhanced institu t ion

a

l c apacity of partner research organization s

Enhanced individual capacity in partner research organization s thr ough training

and exchange

Increased capacity for innovation in partner research organization s

Increased capacity for innovation in partner development organization s and

in poor and vulnerable communities

Climate change

Mitigation and adap tation achi e ved

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural systems

Reduced tropical deforestation

Increased above- and below-ground biomass for carbon sequestration

Improved forecasting of imp acts of climate change and targeted

technology development

Enhanced capacity to deal with climate extremes

Enabled environment for climate resilience

Cross cuttin

g

issue

IDOs

Sub-IDOs

30

6 Research strategy

Principles

The following principles guide CGIAR’s strategy and the selection of priority research areas for inclusion in center and consortium-level programs:

Strategic relevance, in accordance with a rigorous process of prioritization, consultation with stakeholders, and alignment with global SDGs

Responsiveness to priorities of beneficiaries and partners; research should be demand driven and conducted through equal partnerships

Scientific excellence and originality, drawing on core CGIAR and partner strengths;

Efficiency and subsidiarity, recognizing the advantages of centers working with other centers through CRPs in most cases, while retaining the option for centers to work independently or with non-CRP partners on some topics16

Opportunities for applying findings and achieving impact within a given time-frame, including likely adoption rates and scalability considerations

Value for money and efficiency considerations;

Promotion of gender equity.

Strategic relevance and responsiveness to needs will be assessed through engagement

with stakeholders. Scientific excellence and originality will be judged through independent

peer review combined with oversight by CGIAR’s Independent Science and Partnership

Council (ISPC). It will take into account the track record and publications of team members.

The potential for impact will emerge from ex-ante studies of technology adoption or of the

probable uptake of results by national research and policy groups. A modest amount of

funding will be set aside to support high-risk/high-return research, respond to

emergencies and explore new areas where research could add value.

Priority research areas

CGIAR’s research agenda will encompass the priority research areas outlined below. In

most cases, centers will address the agenda by joining together and linking with external

16 Multi-center programs or CRPs should not be designed simply for the sake of demonstrating that CGIAR is a

system but rather when they can achieve real gains in efficiency – for example, by not duplicating staff – and

when they can enhance the potential for impact. Some CGIAR research might involve just one center but still

be eligible for pooled donor funding.

31

partners through CRPs. However, some of the work will be undertaken by centers working

directly with partners. The portfolio of CRPs will be updated every 5 years over the life of

the SRF through calls for proposals. This document does not, therefore, define a

configuration of CRPs.

• Genetic improvement: CGIAR research on genetic improvement of crops, livestock, fish

and trees will continue to increase the productivity, resilience to stress, nutritional value

and resource use efficiency of species that are globally important for food and incomes

and of selected ‘orphan’ crops that have so far not received much attention from formal

research but are seen as having high potential. Traits such as nutritional value and

resilience under climate stresses will receive increasing attention, as also will emerging

diseases and pests. Firmly based on producers’ expressed needs, work in this area will

integrate conventional breeding with genomics, informatics and phenotyping methods

and will use participatory approaches to the selection and testing of new varieties by

farmers when appropriate. The work will include the collection and characterization of

genetic resources held by CGIAR and other organizations. It will also emphasize the use of

genetic resources and the scaling up of dissemination by partners. The efforts of CGIAR

and its public-sector partners will focus on public goods, but due attention will be paid to

the potential role of the private sector in realizing new opportunities for product or market

development.

• Agricultural systems: Research in this area will target a limited number of regions and

agro-ecologies that are home to high concentrations of the world’s poor and that offer

significant agricultural potential in the sense that sizeable yield gaps both occur and can

be addressed. The focus will be on the sustainable intensification of farming systems,

including the improvement of social and ecological resilience, ecosystem services

supporting agriculture, and the management of tradeoffs. Intensification efforts will take

maximum advantage of the opportunity to exploit genetic (G) x environment (E) x

management (M) interactions, while environmental knowledge will be used to guide

genetic improvement and the selection of suitable crops and enterprises. Research will

adopt a systems approach, encompassing the full range of intervention points from soil–

plant–water relationships to markets and value chains. It will integrate social and

biophysical sciences with the use of both local knowledge and big data to understand and

solve the complex problems affecting lives and livelihoods in these systems. i

Gender and inclusive growth: CGIAR recognizes that creating opportunities for

women and marginalized groups accelerates growth, contributes to resilience, builds

intergenerational capital, and fosters equity. Given the importance of gender and inclusion

for achieving CGIAR’s goals, gender analysis is embedded in the system’s research

portfolio. CGIAR’s gender strategy includes the development of tools, methods, and data

sets that will strengthen our understanding of the role of gender and other factors

governing exclusion or inclusion in development. In addition, the tools will be applied to

32

address inter alia: identification of technologies, including plant and animal traits and

agronomic and husbandry practices, of particular benefit to women; reduction of barriers

to the adoption of improved technologies and practices by women; institutional

innovations to reduce or remove limitations on women’s access to assets and inputs;

better understanding of nutrition among women and children and strategies to improve

it; interventions in value chains and markets to provide better opportunities for women;

design of social protection programs to address the needs of vulnerable women and men;

and innovations in policies and institutions to ensure sustainable access to natural

resources by poor women and marginalized groups.

Enabling policies and institutions: In this area CGIAR programs and their partners will

develop knowledge to inform the policy and institutional changes needed to ensure

inclusive growth, better food and nutrition security, and the sustainable use of natural

resources. Widespread application of new technology almost always requires

complementary reforms in policies and institutions, including markets. Increased pressure

on natural resources necessitates reforms in management and shifts in incentives to

encourage sustainable use, especially in forests. Climate change imposes further change if

countries are to ready themselves to cope well with emergencies and to put in place the

measures that will lead to adaptation and mitigation. Attention to the policy and

institutional environment in areas where CGIAR programs concentrate their activities will

raise the returns to investments by CGIAR and its partners. CGIAR’s research on policy and

institutions will also contribute to the three SLOs directly through broader changes in such

fields as trade, marketing, safety nets, gender empowerment, and governance.

Natural resources and ecosystem services: Human activities, which already exceed

planetary boundaries17 in critical fields such as biodiversity loss, continue to place the

natural resource base under increasing pressures. Large productive ecosystems, including

forests, fisheries and rangelands, offer significant opportunities to reduce or reverse these

pressures at scale and over the long term. These systems are both dependent on

ecosystem services and providers of such services, in addition to producing food. For

example, rangelands are the home of valuable plant and wildlife biodiversity in addition to

their use for livestock production. The key issue under research in this area will be the

ability of these systems to maintain and enhance ecosystem services in the face of global

drivers of change, such as rising population levels, urbanization (leading to changing

patterns of food demand), and a warming climate. By examining and valuing the multiple

functions of land- and seascapes, research will provide opportunities to enhance

sustainable use and resilience to shocks through better management, including alternative

livelihood options.

17 See Steffen, W. et al, 2015. Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science 10, 1126

(www.sciencemag.org)

33

Nutrition and health: Agriculture can contribute to better nutritional and health

outcomes through selective breeding to enhance the nutrient content or reduce the anti-

nutritional properties of widely consumed foods, through productivity breakthroughs that

shift relative prices in favor of under-consumed nutrients, through the preservation of

plants that are important traditional sources of micronutrients, and through the reduction

of hazards along the food value chain, especially microbial hazards. The most important

route to improved nutrition is, however, the diversification of diets – and delivering this

outcome will require CGIAR to adopt new approaches. It will be vital to increase our

understanding of food systems from the consumers’ point of view and to place more

emphasis on the development of value chains that can deliver nutrient-rich foods to poor

consumers efficiently, at the same time as providing new opportunities for producers and

processors. Links with partners in the nutrition, health and food science sectors will be

essential, as also will be nutrition education and marketing expertise.

Pull-out quote: “If CGIAR wants to make a greater impact on improving nutrition and

health, we will need to work differently than we have in the past. Improving diet quality is

not business as usual. Agricultural research will need to both raise and change its game to

make a greater contribution. “ – John McDermott, Director, CRP on Agriculture for

Nutrition and Health.

Climate-smart agriculture: As climate change takes hold, adaptation and mitigation

options are needed urgently in agriculture. CGIAR and its partners are already doing much

to support farmers and other land users as they adapt to climate change. This includes the

development of drought-tolerant varieties of major food crops, together with the

introduction of better soil and water management practices. But climate solutions in

agriculture need to go beyond the farm level to include services such as improved weather

forecasting, insurance products and social safety nets, all of which need testing with users

and refining in the light of experience. These and other interventions need to be targeted

to high-risk zones, where local people should be involved in adaptation planning. Factors

contributing to changes in land use, particularly the conversion of forests to cropland, need

to be better understood and managed, while deforestation must be prevented or reduced

wherever possible, using new policy measures and instruments. Lastly, CGIAR can and

must make a major contribution to the development of mitigation options, which have

been under-researched thus far. There are major opportunities for innovation in this area.

Pull-out quote: “No dialogue can be more important than how to feed the world in the face

of climate change. There is no doubt that investment in agricultural research has one of the

greatest returns.” – Akinwumi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

Nigeria

34

Table 2 shows the rationale for each of these research areas through its contribution to

specific system-level outcomes and the contribution of CGIAR to a global effort.

35

Table 2. Contribution of priority research areas to system-level objectives and comparative advantage of CGIAR

Research area Contribution of research area to outcomes CGIAR’s comparative advantage

Genetic improvement Poverty:

Higher and more stable yields raise incomes

Stable (CIAT) yields counter poverty traps, climate change

Nutrition:

• Higher yields boost food security

Bio-fortification and nutrient enhancement

Better characteristics for storage and trade

NRM:

High yields reduce pressure on land and forests

Improved resource use efficiency (water, fertilizer, nutrients,

soils)

Improved ability to cope with biotic stresses

Record of accomplishment

Strong existing capacity18

Place in pre-competitive space and on topics not of

interest to private sector

Custodian of genetic resources by treaty

Strong partnerships with national programs and

advanced research institutes

Growing experience with private partners

Ability to span the research spectrum from basic to

adaptive research

Ability to transfer germplasm across national borders

and to seek impact at scale through partnerships

Agricultural systems

Poverty :

Targeting to poverty and vulnerability hot-spots

Synergistic approach yields higher and more stable incomes

Nutrition :

Targeting for nutritional vulnerability

Dietary diversity and fortification included in farming systems

NRM:

Ecosystem approach reverses degradation

Record of accomplishment

Locations in priority agro-ecological zones

Interdisciplinary approach, combing social and

ecological research19

Connections with implementation partners

Quantitative tools under development

Qualitative approaches established

Links to genetic improvement programs

Strengths in modeling (farming systems and

tradeoffs)

18 Additional capacity needed in informatics and advanced genomics.

19 Social science capacity in relation to natural resource management may need strengthening.

36

Gender and inclusion

Poverty:

Productivity growth through inclusion

Diversification of household income

Nutrition:

Women spend more on children’s nutrition

More information and better communication change behavior

NRM:

Better stewardship when women have power

More options reduce pressure on resources

Research tools being developed

Links with advanced research institutes

Links with implementation partners

Strong internal community of practice

Strategies to guide future work

Growing body of gender-disaggregated data

Enabling policies and

institutions

Poverty :

Targeting of science to needs of the poor

Inclusive and better functioning value chains

Structural change brings new jobs

Nutrition :

Scope and design of safety nets

Management of price and supply shocks

Food safety regulations

NRM :

Land policy and tenure

Pricing of resources

Programs to support ecosystem services

Recognized analytical capacity

Ability to combine technical and institutional

innovations

Perceived as fair broker in sensitive dialogues

Partnerships with key actors in policy processes

Engagement at global, regional, and national levels

Experiences in value chain innovation

Natural resources and

ecosystem services

Poverty :

Better management of land, soils, water, forests, and

biodiversity facilitates gains from genetic improvement and

boosts incomes

Sustainable use and harvesting of natural resources reduces

impact of droughts, floods, etc

Sustainable use reduces conflict and loss of life and assets

Nutrition:

Avoidance of contaminants in food

Strong analytical capacity

Engagement on the ground in key locations

Ability to convene globally and regionally and work at

multiple scales

Ability to capture synergies between intensive

agriculture and better NRM

Understanding of need for co-evolution of genetic

resources and environment

37

Micronutrients, macronutrients, and medicines from forests

and wild plants

NRM:

Landscape approach to ecosystems underpins sustainability

and multi-functionality

Forests, water, land, soil, and biodiversity are managed for

sustainability

Work balances systematic underinvestment in area

by other actors due to inability to appropriate

benefits

Partnerships at multiple levels, local to national

Nutrition and health

Poverty:

• New market opportunities for producers and processors

Healthier workers earn more

Lower incidence of inter-generational transmission of poverty

Adherence to safety standards opens access to more lucrative

markets

Nutrition:

Complements interventions in health and sanitation to achieve

nutritional outcomes

NRM:

• Diverse diets can lead to diverse landscapes

Recognized leadership in food and nutritional policy

research

Recognized innovation in selected technical fields;

e.g. aflatoxin control

Strong links with national programs

Growing links with partners in global health

Climate-smart

agriculture

Poverty:

Enhanced and focused adaptation avoids income shocks

associated with climate change

Nutrition:

Enhanced adaptation avoids supply shocks and associated

food crises

NRM:

Mitigation reduces agriculture’s contribution to climate

change

Capacity to link adaptation and mitigation through

technical innovations

Capacity to combine technical and institutional

innovations and work across commodities and

systems

Partnerships at multiple levels

Existing set of climate-smart villages and sentinel sites

provide data and learning opportunities

38

From research to impact

Partnerships for impact

Partnership is critical to the success of CGIAR’s efforts, especially given the disparity

between the magnitude of the problems and the resources that CGIAR alone can bring to

bear on them20.

CGIAR partnerships will be increasingly diverse, extending beyond the system’s traditional

collaboration with national and regional research and extension programs to a broadening

circle of advanced research institutes, non-government organizations (NGOs), policy

bodies and private-sector companies. They will also be equal, with distinct but mutually

endorsed commitments from all sides. The contributions of all partners will be explicitly

costed, and the general expectation will be of burden sharing and parallel finance, rather

than internal transfer from one partner to the others.

The increased emphasis on partnerships as a vehicle for delivery of impact implies a

different approach than in the past, while incorporating relevant lessons from experience

as follows:

• A common agenda. All partners must share a vision for change, including a common

understanding of the problems and a joint approach to solving them.

• Shared measurement. Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all

locations ensures that efforts remain aligned and partners hold each other accountable.

• Mutually reinforcing activities. Partners should have distinct roles, but these need to

be coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.

• Continuous communication. Consistent and open communication lines are critical

across a large and diverse partnership, in order to build trust, ensure the realization of

shared objectives and create motivation.

20 According to data from the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators published by IFPRI,

CGIAR expenditures currently constitute 2-3% of total global public spending on agricultural

research (in 2005 PPP dollars). See more at www.asti.cgiar.org/pdf/ASTI_global_assessment.pdf

39

• Backbone support. Creating and managing collective impact requires a designated

entity with staff and specific skill sets, to serve as the backbone for the partnership.

The future CGIAR strategy for partnerships will be guided by the above principles. In some

cases, particularly where countries have recently emerged from conflict or crisis or

national research systems are severely under-resourced, the capacity of partners may not

be sufficient to support relationships as defined above. In such cases, CGIAR will, upon

invitation, work with implementation partners (often international NGOs or development

organizations) and national clients to define the knowledge agenda and capacity

development needed to accompany a development intervention. CGIAR’s contribution to

implementation in these cases will usually be costed and funded through bilateral

contracts.

CGIAR’s engagement with the private sector has grown in recent years, reflecting the

increased attractiveness of markets in low- and middle-income countries, and clearer

frameworks for cooperation between public and private institutions. CGIAR programs’

theories of change now explicitly acknowledge the role of the private sector. CGIAR can

make important contributions in the pre-competitive space for innovations that will

eventually be taken up and spread by private firms, which in many cases can be critical for

achieving impact at scale. Further work on intellectual property and related matters will

be needed to harness the full potential of these growing partnerships. Multi-stakeholder

platforms and alliances convened around major global issues are promising instruments

for involving partners from the private sector, as well as others.

Achieving impact at scale

Achieving impact at scale is one of the greatest challenges facing the development

community. Research by CGIAR and its partners can support the drive towards technology

dissemination and widespread impact, but the scaling up effort must be led by national

services, supported by regional or international development organizations where

appropriate. The private sector may also have a major role to play.

Our contribution to meeting this challenge will take the form of a five-fold strategy of (i)

deliberate prioritization of research efforts to target constraints of wide applicability and

regions of concentrated poverty and hunger; (ii) close alignment of effort of the centers

and CRPs in selected areas, to capture synergies; (iii) coordinated planning with

implementation partners so that the knowledge of CGIAR and the financial and

programmatic resources of these partners complement each other; (iv) commitments

from clients and national partners to make complementary investments and policy

reforms where CGIAR is investing; and (v) institutionalization of a culture of regular

monitoring and evaluation to gauge impact.

40

These elements of a strategy for scaling up will be reflected in periodic calls for proposals

for research programs and will be conveyed to partners to secure and reinforce

relationships based on a shared commitment to widespread impact.

Capacity development

Capacity development is a strategic enabler of impact for both CGIAR and its partners. It

goes far beyond the transfer of knowledge and skills through training, and cuts across

multiple levels – individual, organizational and institutional. Work in this area will follow

the nine elements highlighted in the Capacity Development Framework for the second

round of CRPs currently in preparation. The focus will be on devising, adapting and

applying systems, tools and guidelines for benchmarking, reporting, disseminating and

improving capacity development in the CRPs and throughout the CGIAR system.

The strengthening of academic institutions in low-income countries, together with the

increased global mobility of students, allows CGIAR to rely on these institutions to deliver

basic higher education in disciplines relevant to CGIAR’s work. CGIAR can concentrate on

capacity development that is more narrowly related to the conduct of applied research in

these fields, and particularly on providing experiential learning within research teams. The

system can provide practical, hands-on mentorship in professionally run research

laboratories and experiment stations, as well as in farmers’ fields. An example of such a

CGIAR facility is the Nairobi-based Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA) hub, co-

created by ILRI and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and run by ILRI

to provide cutting-edge facilities for African researchers.

Pull-out quote: “Capacity development is about enhancing individual and organizational capacities over time to play lead roles in technology generation, not limiting partners only to taking forward CGIAR research products. CGIAR should embrace a more dynamic comparative advantage perspective in which the roles of centers and national partners evolve over time. This means it isn't just what the centers will do working with partners, but also how they work in partnerships: in ways that empower partners to expand their responsibilities and capacities, rather than limiting them to secondary, dependent roles.” – Peter Matlon, Board Chair, Africa Rice Center

CGIAR can increase the leverage of its capacity development by focusing on the

strengthening of whole organizations and institutions, not just individuals. The rapidly

evolving context of the system’s research implies the need for significant

institutional change in CGIAR as well as in its partners. The multiple dimensions of

this change include: mainstreaming new areas such as nutrition, gender, sustainability, and

resilience in research programs; enabling partners to take advantage of big data; engaging

stakeholders and partners in new ways to ensure research leads to development; creating

a culture of accountability and results-based management; and developing skills in

resource mobilization and partnership building.

41

Efforts to mainstream new capacities in partner institutions should yield high returns.

Activities will be embedded in ongoing research programs and will target key skill sets

required by partners, as well as by CGIAR itself. Staff exchanges, sabbaticals and post-

doctoral programs will play an increasing role in ensuring that CGIAR and its partners are

equipped to deal with today’s rapidly evolving research agenda.

Infrastructure development

Research undertaken by CGIAR and its partners in low-income countries requires access to

state-of-the-art infrastructure. Such infrastructure is critical for the delivery of the SRF and

includes, among others, things, bio-secure laboratories and glasshouses, genomics and

phenotyping platforms, gene and bio-banks, equipment for geospatial analytics and

bioinformatics, farm buildings and machinery, communications equipment, office

buildings, and staff housing. The scale and cost of the required investments is growing

rapidly, requiring prioritization, strategic collaboration and system-wide rationalization.

Future investment in enabling infrastructure will be guided by the following principles:

Infrastructure investments will be funded from an annual allocation in the CGIAR

budget. They will be prioritized in accordance with the requirements of the SRF and

will be approved by the Fund Council, based on externally appraised proposals and

recommendation from the Consortium Office.

Investments will be financed jointly by individual centers and the CGIAR system,

ensuring that priorities reflect broader CGIAR needs as well as clear center

accountability.

Facilities will be managed by host centers and usually shared with other centers and

with partners. Fair and efficient management and charging procedures will be

established to ensure sustainability. The Consortium Office will monitor these

practices.

42

7 Holding ourselves accountable

Accountability framework

Accountability can be defined as taking responsibility for performance, in the light of

commitments made by a program or organization and to the extent that performance is

under its control. Accountability requires ownership and acceptance of responsibility, as

well as the ability to deliver, or influence the delivery of, the desired results21.

Accountability requirements in the public sector, including development aid, have shifted

over the past decade from a focus on process and activities to one that also includes

outcomes and impacts. This has resulted in growing recognition of the complexity of

interventions, especially in terms of the external environment, where uncertainties prevail

regarding the mix of factors and activities that will determine ultimate impact.

In the context of agricultural research for development, the shift to outcomes and impacts

means a results orientation focus. This entails defining development objectives in addition

to understanding, and setting out on, paths to reach those objectives – while all the time

maintaining excellence in science. It also means monitoring experiences and learning from

them, to improve performance over time.

For CGIAR, an accountability framework should seek to mirror the results framework and

support the implementation of the system’s mission. Our accountability framework

therefore serves multiple users, including donors, program managers and partners, as well

as the public at large (since CGIAR spends taxpayers’ money). It also serves a variety of

purposes – as a tool for managing research with a results orientation, for prioritization and

fund allocation, for making major institutional decisions, for ensuring accurate and

balanced reporting, and, in the long run, for providing evidence on the impact of past

investments.

The CGIAR accountability framework requires a ‘two-time dimension’ and ‘two-tier

approach’ to accountability. One dimension corresponds to the aspirational commitments

of the CGIAR community and its partners, to jointly contribute to IDOs and SLOs. The other

relates to operational achievements and encompasses the progress actually made towards

IDOs and SLOs. In other words: are we trying to do the right things? And have we done

them? The two tiers refer to the individual program or CRP level, and to the system-wide

or CGIAR level. Both tiers require the full involvement of partners if progress is to be made.

21 CGIAR IEA Glossary

43

And both also encompass feedback loops between and among priority research areas and

cross-cutting issues.

Program-level accountability

Operational accountability applies at the CRP level and includes two aspects. The first

relates to managing for results, where accountability and learning assist the CRPs in

adjusting and gearing towards the delivery of results, while creating an environment for

excellence in science and the generation of outcomes.

The other aspect relates to measuring and reporting indicators of outputs and outcomes.

The correlation between research effort and development outcomes can only be

realistically assessed when the contribution of agricultural research is reasonably well

understood. It is easier to define for research outcomes (e.g. the adoption of technology;

influence on a policy debate). And it may also be relatively easy to define for higher-level

development outcomes in the case of faster and more linear impact pathways (e.g. the

impact of new technology on incomes and economic growth).

CRPs are responsible for monitoring delivery of outputs and tracking their uptake and first

order of use by direct boundary partners (needs explanatory footnote and reference?).

They will therefore define their specific indicators (and monitoring and evaluation

frameworks), drawing on what we know about the links along impact pathways to SLOs

and the feedback loops between and among pathways.

To devise plans for assessing impact, the CRPs will consult with representatives of partners

and beneficiary groups in key countries where they aim to deliver outcomes at scale,

including governments, NGOs, farmer organizations, processors and others along the value

chain, and, ultimately, consumers. The CRPs will also coordinate with each other to ensure

that, in key geographies, their activities are aligned for maximum impact. The CRPs’

collective, coordinated commitments in these geographies will be summarized in site

integration plans to enable transparent interaction with local stakeholders. The

consultation process is referred to as the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for

Development (GCARD), a joint activity of the Global Forum for Agricultural Research and

the CGIAR Consortium.

Each CRP will develop a specific results framework outlining expected results and

corresponding metrics, impact pathways and theories of change, procedures for internal

and external evaluation, and processes for learning and adaptation. In many cases, specific

indicators capturing the impact of programs on women and young people will be both

feasible and appropriate. Each new CRP proposal will be accompanied by an Annex, the

Performance Indicator Matrix, that will summarize the outputs and outcomes, with their

indicators and metrics, for which the CRP expects to be held accountable. The matrix will

44

form part of the CRP’s contract and the basis for its subsequent self-assessment, as well as

for review and evaluation by others.

System-level accountability

At the system level, accountability deals with the most complex aspects of the CRPs’

theories of change and the interactions among the system’s component parts. Despite

uncertainties over the timeframes needed for research to achieve developmental impact

and the methodological challenges related to measuring attribution, accountability at

system level is first and foremost about defining targets, a process that is well in hand at

the global level (see p. 16).

System-level accountability also includes engaging in research, including contribution

analysis, to better understand impact pathways and theories of change, and to provide

qualitative and quantitative evidence on contributions to IDOs, SLOs and links to relevant

SDG targets. Results of this analysis will contribute to global knowledge of the complex

dynamics that influence the achievement of SLOs. Specifically, contribution analysis will

target evidence of causal links between research outputs and the IDOs and SLOs, thereby

providing CGIAR investors with evidence of impact. For example, while nutrition-related

CRP accountability will focus on improvements to dietary diversity for pregnant women

and children, contribution analysis will assess the contribution of dietary diversity to

complex longer-term outcomes such as stunting in children. CGIAR will invest in

contribution analysis at both CRP and system level, as well as use the evidence generated

by contribution analysis performed outside the system, for example in the health sector.

In parallel, at system level CGIAR will engage with global partners in the international

community, particularly FAO and its Committee on World Food Security, to strengthen

their efforts to monitor and report on food and nutrition security-related SDG targets as

well as other commitments of the international community related to CGIAR’s mandate.

CGIAR will also seek to engage with a limited number of key countries to identify targets

for IDOs that align with national development goals. We will contribute to the

development of capacity in these countries to monitor and report on the agreed IDO

targets through national statistical agencies.

45

8 Resource mobilization

Progress and prospects

CGIAR has seen a significant increase in funding since embarking on the reform process in 2009. Between 2008 and 2013, annual revenue doubled to US$1 billion. Growth was achieved largely by seeking grants for both bilateral project funding and contributions to the pooled CGIAR Fund, established in 2010. In 2013 the fund raised US$ 483 million, while US$ 525 million was received in bilateral grants to centers – all largely from the traditional donor base. Despite this impressive progress, CGIAR remains vulnerable to funding shocks in the near future. We are heavily reliant on a small pool of long-standing and committed donors, primarily governments, with the top ten accounting for some 40% of revenue. Broadening the sources of funding thus remains an urgent need.

Challenge and opportunities The funding challenge should be seen in the context of the commitments made by the international community, including CGIAR and many of its investors. These relate to reducing under-nutrition (London, 2013) and scaling up climate-smart agriculture (New York, 2014) as well as to the objectives and targets set out in the SDGs (to be finalized in New York in 2015). CGIAR’s ability to align with these global goals and to contribute to the impact pathways described earlier will be a significant factor in increasing investor confidence and hence the resources allocated to international agricultural research. It will also create the potential for synergies and leverage on investments in other sectors. For example, increased agricultural productivity that creates improved nutritional outcomes as well as additional wealth for the rural poor will also result in higher returns on investment in market infrastructure, transport links, education and health. Meeting these global commitments will require a substantial increase in resources. Estimates indicate that implementing this SRF and achieving its key outcomes will necessitate at least a further doubling of the resources mobilized by CGIAR to some US$ 2 billion per annum by 2022.

46

A second and closely related challenge is to secure more predictable multi-year funding. Research by its very nature requires continuity, often yielding outputs and impacts only after many years of investment and effort. Stopping and restarting research due to unstable funding not only adds to costs but also reduces research effectiveness and efficiency.

Agreement by the international development community on the SDGs will thus present CGIAR with a unique opportunity, which it is now well placed to take. Since 2009 the system has successfully reformed itself and established a set of CRPs that harness the combined strengths of its 15 research centers to address strategic global challenges effectively and efficiently. As this SRF shows, CGIAR has also changed its culture to become more outcome-oriented. We have demonstrated our ability to adapt to changing needs, absorb new resources, carry out high-quality research and deliver impact at scale through our partners. These positive steps have enabled us to put forward a bold yet realistic SRF – one that presents a results-focused research plan with a greater emphasis on efficiency, value for money and impact, in addition to scientific excellence, as prerequisites for mobilizing new resources.

Funding the new SRF New and creative approaches to mobilizing funds must be explored if our ambitious funding goal is to be realized. They include innovative finance mechanisms and multi-year pledging. Work has already begun on innovative finance mechanisms, including Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) and Returnable Capital Funds (RCFs). Such mechanisms will make it possible to raise funds from new sources: non-traditional donors, different pockets of capital from existing donors, corporate entities, and previously unexplored philanthropic funds. A complementary approach, yet to be fleshed out in detail, is multi-year pledging. Other multi-donor trust funds, similar to the CGIAR Fund, have successfully used this model. As the SRF is implemented, the Fund Council will explore the potential of a multi-year pledging process that establishes a transparent link between research plans/objectives, costs, results and value for money, thereby building the case for additional resources and partners. These two proposals will, if implemented, provide a more strategic and balanced approach to funding, better aligning the needs and mandates of donors with those of CGIAR.

Costing research outcomes An important factor contributing to the success of CGIAR’s resource mobilization efforts will be a clear value for money proposition with respect to achieving the SRF’s key outcomes. Since the precise costing of research outcomes is complex and context-specific,

47

this task will best be addressed as part of the development and evaluation of a new generation of CRPs in response to the priority research areas outlined in this SRF.

Constructing a new portfolio of CRPs will enable the resource mobilization dialogue to shift towards the financing of specific research packages. Each CRP proposal will contain clearly defined core priority research objectives but will also build in scope for expansion, detailing how additional resources would be used to secure further progress along specific impact pathways. There will also be clarity on the measures put in place to track results. This should open the way for the new forms of support and multi-year funding commitments outlined above, with total funding sufficient to address this ambitious SRF in full. A key approach in developing this SRF has been the analytical and consultative process adopted to ensure a focus on the highest priority issues with the greatest potential for impact. This, together with the approach to resource mobilization outlined here, should ensure buy-in from the donor community. We hope that it does so.

48

Annexes 1. CGIAR centers and programs, as at 30 January 2015.

2. How CGIAR goals align with SDGs.

List of acronyms

References

CGIAR Consortium, 1000 Avenue Agropolis, F-34394 Montpellier Cedex 5

t (+33 4) 67 04 75 75 w www.cgiar.org